RPI researchers make breakthrough on nanotubes

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created hybrid structures combining the best properties of carbon nanotubes and metal nanowires.

The new structures are described in a recent issues of Applied Physics Letters.

The advance is important because scientists have had trouble attaching carbon nanotubes to metal contacts. As a result, the new combined carbon nanotube and nanowire structures could help overcome hurdles in using carbon nanotubes in computer chips, display sensors and other electronic devices.

The research was performed under the guidance of Pulickel Ajayan, RPI’s Henry Burlage Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. It was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Focus Center New York for Electronics Interconnects. The paper’s author was Fung Suong Ou, a graduate student in materials science and electrical engineering at RPI.